Anyone bothered/obsessed about depreciation.

[SmartAmg]

Personally when I buy a car it's because that's the car I really want at that time, I'll like modding the car and keep it well maintained and super clean. To be honest depreciation doesn't even enter my mind. If you become obsessed about a car losing money you'd never get one, certainly not the car, you REALLY want.

 

[markjay]

It depends very much on the market segment.

Near the start if its service life, the single highest cost of a car by far is depreciation. Forget fuel consumption and servicing costs and VED etc.

Towards the end, depreciation is almost immaterial, both because the car has already shed most of its value, and because in absolute terms the amount will be small even if percentage-wise it's high.

Now add to this the fact that 80% (from memory) of new cars sold in the UK are sold on finance, and 50% (again, from memory) of new cars are bought by businesses, and I think you'll find that the number of people who actually buy a new or nearly-new car in cash and feel/shoulder the depreciation is relatively small.

Of course buyers who use finance will pay the depreciation as well, but in the majority of cases it will be unnoticeable, incalculable, or irrelevant for them (e.g. business users).

So I would hazard a guess that the number of people who actually fret about depreciation is quite small.

Historically I bought cars that were 1 to 4 years old, paid cash (no finance), then kept them for 4 to 7 years. I calculated that the cost of depreciation to me so far - over the past 25 years and 7 cars (mine and hers) - was between 1,000 and 2,000 per car per year, which I can live with.

 

[baxlin]

Until I was persuaded to lease in the last few years I was working, I always bought, 3 year old ex-lease cars, on the basis that the lease had required them to be properly serviced, and a huge chunk of depreciation will have happened.

Now I’m retired, I went for the car I wanted - a full 4 seater hardtop convertible (that’s why it’s a Volvo, no one else offered that), and I’ve no plans to change it, so no, depreciation isn’t a concern at the moment.

Having said that, I looked at the lease costs for a C-class convertible recently, just to see what the difference would be. That’s one reason I have no plans to change from the Volvo!

 

[BTB 500]

Near the start if its service life, the single highest cost of a car by far is depreciation. Forget fuel consumption and servicing costs and VED etc.

Towards the end, depreciation is almost immaterial, both because the car has already shed most of its value, and because in absolute terms the amount will be small even if percentage-wise it's high.

Absolutely. The other point is that the difference between the dealer retail price someone paid for a car and the trade-in value when they come to sell it is not just down to depreciation

 

[Benzowner]

Part of the hidden costs of motoring

 

[Eddy77]

Can’t say I am. But then I buy and keep long term so resale is never on my mind. I don’t expect to ever sell my CLK unless it just goes bang and needs to be scrapped. So it’s immaterial to me.

 

[st13phil]

I did consider drawing a large sum of cash from the bank and setting fire to it, but owning two E63's in succession was more fun

 

[219]

Personally when I buy a car it's because that's the car I really want at that time, I'll like modding the car and keep it well maintained and super clean. To be honest depreciation doesn't even enter my mind. If you become obsessed about a car losing money you'd never get one, certainly not the car, you REALLY want.

Depreciation ?

What’s that ?

 

[Yex]

Anyone too concerned with depreciation is probably buying the wrong car.

I buy my cars to enjoy them, drive them hard when I fancy it and sell on if something else catches my eye. As stated above, depreciation is a cost of ownership 99.9% of the time.

 

[Will]

I wouldn’t say I’m bothered or obsessed about depreciation, but as it’s the biggest cost of motoring for most people I certainly consider it when looking to purchase something - more so than the thought I give to stuff like how many miles per gallon a particular car does or how much people think it will cost to run.

Eg my old E63 estate was 7 years old when I bought it, but had lost over £65k in just 11k miles. Who cares how much fuel a 6.2 V8 uses (when new or used!) when it’s losing over £9000 a year in value (or £6000 per 1000 miles etc). I kept it almost a year and sold it to a trader for pretty much what I paid the year before (and a month before a looming B-service and MOT was due). Point being that it had slowed right down depreciation wise and well looked after it wouldn’t/couldn’t lose a lot over the coming years (obviously couldn’t lose even half of what it had already done by that point)

None of this matters of course unless you’re buying or selling, but most people will change car at some point and that’s when it all becomes real.

Thank goodness for depreciation though, because I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy many of the nice cars I’ve owned if it wasn’t for it, someone has to take the hit!

 

[davymead]

For me a combination of both, in as much as gorgeous as some vehicles are, I’d certainly steer clear of ownership of say a current model of Range Rover. A compatriot has just purchased (trade) a 2015 Autobiography V8d with 108k for a smidge under £20k. The original bill of sale came with the car showing £102k.
For me, suicidal. I’m not rich btw.

 

[Will]

I think you can argue that the sort of person who has £102k to spend on a car like that can afford £80k depreciation over 100k miles/5 years.

The new owner will no doubt complain when their £20k RR needs a £1000 repair every few months though

At least the original owner got some decent use out of it though

 

[markjay]

I think you can argue that the sort of person who has £102k to spend on a car like that can afford £80k depreciation over 100k miles/5 years.

The new owner will no doubt complain when their £20k RR needs a £1000 repair every few months though

At least the original owner got some decent use out of it though

When you buy a brand new car, you work-out how much you lost in deprecation compared to what you paid for it when new.

But when you buy a second-hand car, you have no way of knowing what the first owner actually paid for it (be it cash or through finance), so you tend to calculate the deprecation based on the RRP at the time the car was new.

But few cars are actually sold at RRP. Two examples:

in 2001 I bought a 6-months old Vauxhall Omega. The RRP was £24,000, I paid £14,000. But the car didn't actually lose £10k in 6 months... Omegas were rarely bought by private owners, and my car was indeed an ex-fleet car, and one can only imagine what level of discount Vauxhall offered the original fleet buyer.

Last year Tesla announced a modification to their battery technology, and at the same time offered massive discounts on all cars that they had already built with the current battery and were in stock. A colleague with a nose for bargains opted for top-of-the-range Model-X P100D with Ludicrous Mode and lifetime free charging. 19-Reg. The RRP was £120,000, he got the car for £80,000 (on finance).

Future owners might look at that what they paid compared to the RRP and think that the first owners had deep pockets and money to burn. Not so... the first owner may have in fact been a very shrewd businessman.

 

[Deleted member 154425]

For me I only care about it when it comes to buying a vehicle, but not sell to be honest. If I am looking at a new E63S for £100k+ but then see that I bought my 2020 reg for 70k - then hell yea I care - I save the money and get a pre-reg with most of its warranty left. What I don't have in mind and never had - and therefore don't add to my 'monthly bill' as hidden cost like @Benzowner mentioned - is what it may be worth in 1,2,3 or more years. I almost always think I gonna keep the car (and rarely do lol) - so yea .. I just want to drive a nice car and if it is financially better for me due to depreciation - so be it.

I even have the same mindset in buying new cars. When I bought an A6 I didn't even care it drops 50% in value after less than six months. I just wanted to enjoy the car.

Although I must say - when I bought the e63s I was surprised how much 'cheaper' it already was when I bought it - although even more so when I realised the insurance thinks it is worth even less - like 20k less. So my insurance essentially says that my 2020 e63s (first reg 31/01/2020) is worth like 55k .... less than six months old ...

 

[Merc220cls]

I’m more concerned about depreciation of my investments.

 

[190]

I've bought only 4 cars new and in each case I was being paid for business miles that made the deprecation of no concern.

Once the car was used only for my own relatively low private miles, new car depreciation at up to £1 a mile started to look too extravagant, so I bought used cars ranging from 1 - 5 years old with much lower depreciation.

I have a spreadsheet with purchase and sale prices of of every car I've ever owned. Depreciation ranges from 23% per year for a new car kept for 15 months down to 4.5% for a 5 year old 190e kept for 21 years.

My benchmark now is that I'm comfortable with a car losing no more than 10% per year.

 

[Teego]

Depreciation has meant I've been driving great cars for years and years.

 

[AMGeed]

I don't choose a car thinking about how much its going to lose when I sell it. The E63 is there to be enjoyed, not worrying about it losing value.
My last E class I owned for just over 6 years. When I sold it, I lost £50 on the price I'd paid in 2013. Not all depreciate as much as you think.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I'm not keen, why would anyone enjoy depreciation?

Nuts.

 

[Deleted member 126251]

Anyone too concerned with depreciation is probably buying the wrong car.

I buy my cars to enjoy them, drive them hard when I fancy it and sell on if something else catches my eye. As stated above, depreciation is a cost of ownership 99.9% of the time.

Ditto - can't spend the $$ from a wooden box and there is great pleasure in specifying a car exactly as I want it and driving it brand new out of a showroom.